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Choose two GNU/Linux or BSD flavors and see how they compare in features and supported software/hardware.

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Arch

Gentoo

GENERAL FEATURES

Arch Linux is an independent lightweight i686-optimized community distribution for intermediate and advanced GNU/Linux users who aren't afraid of the command line. It offers great flexibility and control over what software you want to have on your system and how you want it configured. Like Slackware, it follows the "keep it simple" philosophy and is very fast to boot and run.

Distro for advanced, aware and patient users and also for those who like to mess up a lot :) Gentoo is a distribution which doesn't rely on binary packages (although there are some available as well) but rather concentrates on building the operating system optimized for the target hardware. Installing and configuring Gentoo can take days or weeks. The users say it's worth it because of the control and speed improvements.

(7) Installer is very similar to Slackware, but requires even more experience and know-how. Partitioning has to be done before launching the installer (e.g. using cfdisk). Upon installing, packages configuration files are offered for manual editing, although default settings are already present and will work in alot of cases.

(6) Since Gentoo 2006.0 the distro comes with a Gnome Live-CD and a graphical installer. The installer is not yet stable enough to recommend it for the newbies. However it's way easier than the manual way.
In the previous versions, Gentoo had no typical installer. The installation process was performed manually by entering appropriate commands well described in the installation manual. Installing Gentoo this way takes approximately a few days (including sources download, compilation and installing) so it is really not a task for everyone.

Package selection

(6) ?

(4) In the GUI installer, there is a short list of packages to choose from. There is an option to enter the required packages manually though.

Predefined package groups

(6) ?

(0) Not available.

Expert mode install

(1) Only expert mode available.

(6) Possible manual installation in stages 1, 2 or 3. None of them is newbie-friendly though.

Graphical installer

(0) Only text-mode dialog boxes, ncurses based.

(5) A simple one, available from the Live-CD.

Installer speed

(6) ?

(3) The graphical installer is quick. The manual installation from stage 3 take a bit more than a standard installation of most popular distros. Advanced installation (stages 1 or 2) is very slow and therefore recommended only for the most patient users.

CONFIGURATION

Graphical system management

(0) By default there are no graphical configuration programs for Arch.

(6) There is overall a growing number of Arch packages, probably in line with what is available for Slackware. However, there is *alot* more of PKGBUILD's available in a so called "AUR" repository, files similar to gentoo ebuilds used by the Arch Build System for compiling packages from source. An easy to use command line tool is available for fetching and executing compilation of those, called aurbuild.

(7) Yes, pacman (Arch package manager) handles dependancies pretty well. Even if you install from source, dependancies are being resolved within PKGBUILD's (much like in gentoo ebuilds).

(9) Very good dependency management through Portage (also when different versions of the same app are installed).

Graphical package management tools

(4) There are optional graphical front ends to pacman, but they have to be installed first (not included). A good example is gtk-pacman.

(4) There are some graphical apps but using them may be a real pain :)
Console-based "emerge" just does the job.

EFFICIENCY

System boot-up speed

(8) It is definitely one of the fastest booting distributions around, and optimization is easy for experienced users as well.

(9) Vey good (the best of all distros) boot speed.

System responsiveness

(7) Very good due to many optimizations.

(9) Very responsive system is the result of Gentoo philosophy - packages optimized for the specific architecture. In order to achieve this, some knowledge and reading may be required.

STABILITY/SECURITY

Popularity

(5) It's currently 22nd on Distrowatch, but its popularity seems to be rising, especially among Slackware and gentoo users. It is quite established among experienced users.

(5) Around 8-9th place on DistroWatch.com rank. System is very popular among experienced users.

Security focus

(4) It probably lacks behind likes of Slackware and Debian in this respect, but there is an effort in the right direction in form of the Arch Linux Security Team (ALST). Arch is a "bleeding edge" distro more than anything else and security should be on the average GNU/Linux level. Since it lays alot of flexibility towards the user, a big part of security is really up to the user/administrator.